


Time to Pretend

by sunflowerstyles



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, larry au, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 03:04:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1210330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerstyles/pseuds/sunflowerstyles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis gets groped in a club and when all hope seems lost Harry the hero swoops in to save the day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time to Pretend

Louis brought the bottle to his lips, taking another drink of the bitter drink he’d come to enjoy since he had come of age four years ago. Not yet buzzed enough to join the promiscuous sea of dancers, he leaned against the bar counter, running his eyes over the crowd several times in search for any potential dance partners. Not having any luck, he asked for another beer, finishing it just as a cold hand gripped his waist rather roughly.

“Hey love, you seem to be awful lonely here all by yourself. Looking for someone to dance with?” a high voice slurred into Louis’ ear. Louis quickly took in the man who seemed to have an obvious interest in him. He was taller than Louis (as most men around his age were) and wore a zealous face. He had slicked back blonde hair, a beard, and both ears pierced. Not the type Louis particularly fancied, but he figured agreeing to dance with the man would save him the pressure of asking someone else himself.

He nodded and told the man, “Yeah, alright. Name’s Louis,” as he let himself be guided to the dance floor by the enthusiastic stranger.

“I’m Jamie, but you can call me Jay,” the tall man half-shouts in Louis’ ear over the loud dance music with a wink and a leering smile. “And I’m gonna call you Lou, okay? Because I think nicknames are so cute,” Jamie said, slipping both hands around to grab Louis’ waist again while standing behind him, “kinda like you, Lou,” he spoke right into his ear in a would-be sexy way if it had not been for the overpowering smell of beer from his slurred words and his uncomfortably eager demeanor.

A rap song with heavy bass sounded from the speakers above as Louis, feeling some slight apprehension at the tight grip at his torso, danced with a noticeable lack of energy. Especially compared to his partner, who seemed determined to invigorate Louis with his high spirit. With his hands planted firmly on Louis’ hips, he tried pulling Louis closer and closer to him so he could properly grind against him, much like the rest of the dancers around them. Louis, quickly becoming uneasy with the situation, tried to appear oblivious as he denied Jamie the opportunity to dance provocatively with him.

Louis decided to try to edge away from his drunken dance partner inconspicuously, feeling anxious at how touchy Jamie was getting with him. It was apparently to no avail when Jamie whined, “C’mon, Lou, dance with me, I know you want to!” right into Louis’ ear while squeezing his side. With his mouth already nearby, Jamie in his intoxicated state began to kiss and bite Louis’ neck.

Soon shifting from his growing nervousness to annoyance, Louis promptly pulled away and said with exasperation evident in his voice, “Jamie, please, I think I should leave…”

“Lou, silly, I said you can call me Jay!” He once more latched his mouth on Louis’ neck in a more unrestrained manner. Louis could no longer pull away from Jamie’s grasp, try as he might. How could he have thought agreeing to dance with an almost wasted stranger would be a good idea? Louis could hardly register his regret as the uncomfortable nervousness seeped through his body once more.

He squirmed anxiously, having no idea how to rid himself of the stronger stranger, whose hands were beginning travel from Louis’ waist to the rest of his body. Dread was taking over Louis’ mind, impairing his already shoddy decision-making. The two beers really weren’t helping, either.

“Erm, Jay… Jamie, please! I really need to go!” Louis’ scared, wavering voice gave away at once his attempt at sounding firm and serious. He was quickly losing hope of leaving the situation before it got worse. He knew he would find several pale red marks on his neck when he got home. If he would be going home tonight, he thought despondently.

One of Jamie’s cold hands finally found their way down to Louis’ backside and started grabbing in a most unpleasant way while the other kept a firm grip on his hip to ensure he couldn’t escape. Louis had heard plenty of times of people being sexually harassed in bars, but he always told himself he’d never let himself get in such a situation. He positively hated himself for allowing it to happen, and he was becoming more and more panicked.

“Mmm, Lou has anyone ever told you what a nice ass you got?” Jamie’s rough fingers surely creating bruises over Louis’ backside. Louis had in fact been told before, several times. It would always make him blush but smile with pride when he got such a compliment from past boyfriends, but in this context, he was starting to feel nauseous. “It’s so sexy… can't wait to see a little more of it,” Jamie slurred and bit ardently on Louis’ ear.

Louis was on the brink of a meltdown, tears of fright and frustration welling in his eyes. His cries of “Jamie, stop. Please.” slowly dying out and his fighting squirms becoming weaker as the feeling of miserable defeat overtook him. Through his watery eyes, he scanned the crowd to see if anyone happened to notice that he was not okay. Everyone he could see appeared to be too involved with their grinding partner to give Louis and his situation any notice.

He was about to accept total defeat and relax into Jamie’s hold in hopes that it would all be over in a matter of hours when he spotted a boy with lots and lots of dark curly hair staring straight at him. The boy’s intense stare was full of intense concern, widening when he realized the man he was staring at had begun to cry and mouth the word ‘help’ over and over. With raised eyebrows and an open mouth, the dark-haired boy bounded over to Louis and after a moment’s hesitation, set his features in a look of angry disbelief.

“Oi, mate! Just who the fuck do you think you are with your hands all over my boyfriend here?” the stranger shouted in Jamie’s face, and with one large hand tightly clutching Jamie’s shoulder, peeled him off of Louis threw him to the side with unaccountable strength in one swift move.

Louis blinked away his tears and stared in shock with his mouth slightly open as Jamie stumbled drunkenly and tried to form words in his scared and intoxicated state. “L-look kid, I-I-I just asked Lou here to-to dance-,” before Jamie could stutter out an explanation, Louis’ curly-haired savior gave Jamie a fast, resounding slap to the face.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself?!” the tall boy roared at Jamie’s stooped figure. Jamie was holding his face and groaning in pain, straightening up and lowering his hands to reveal a quickly-forming black eye and the left half of his face a bright pink.

“You picked the wrong lad to dance with, mate, because he happens to be taken and I’m the jealous type,” the boy growled in Jamie’s face, towering over him. He spat right into Jamie’s startled, disbelieving face and said, “I hope you’ve learned your lesson, pervert. Don’t ever touch my boyfriend again.” He gave Jamie one last intimidating, disgusted look, placed his arm gently around Louis’ shoulder, and pushed his way through the crowd of dancers to the door.

Once snapped out of his state of shock, Louis quickly wiped away his long-forgotten tears and relaxed into his rescuer’s protective arm as he let himself be led out of the bar into the soothingly chilly fall night. He paused to enjoy the sweet relief that washed over him now that he’s escaped the grabby, eager hands of his too-willing dance partner.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you too badly?” The stranger’s big green eyes, moments ago fired up with rage, now stared into Louis’ shy, timid blue ones with genuine concern that reassured Louis he was safe at last.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine…” Louis trailed off, rubbing at the sore hickeys on his neck and shifting his feet, trying to determine how bad the bruises on his butt and hips would be. “Thank you so much, by the way, erm…” he shyly glanced back up at the tall boy’s face in question.

“Oh, m’ names Harry. It was no problem, I’m happy to help you get away from that creep,” Harry spoke slowly with a deep, calming voice that made Louis immediately keen to trust him.

“I’m Louis,” Louis quietly told Harry and offered him his hand, which Harry shook at once, his huge hand holding Louis’ small one in a relaxing grip for just slightly longer than was entirely necessary. Harry offered a sweet smile and broke away from the handshake.

“So, have you met that guy before tonight?” Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern once more.

“No, he just came up to me to dance, and I went with him, but once I realized how drunk he was and how strong he was, it was too late because he wasn’t too keen on letting me go,” Louis explained, feeling dread tighten his stomach again slightly at the thought of the drunk, handsy man. “He wouldn’t listen to me and I couldn’t pull away and I think he was planning on taking me to his home or at least outside in the ally because he didn’t seem too willing to wait much longer-” Louis got so caught up in venting the heavy dread he had felt just minutes ago that he didn’t realize how fast and labored his breathing got until he was almost to the point of hyperventilating. There were tears running down his face before he knew it and he willed himself to calm down before he got too carried away and had a panic attack.

As he tried to even out his breathing again, he felt strong arms wrap around his waist, except this time, it wasn’t invasive or uncomfortable. It was just what he needed. Throwing any sense of timidity to the wind, he instinctively wrapped his arms around Harry’s sturdy torso and buried his face into his chest as he sobbed quietly, no longer trying to calm himself down. Harry’s big, comforting hands rubbed at his back as he consolingly kissed the top of Louis’ head.

Louis felt like a child and knew he must look fairly pathetic but couldn’t bring it in him to care. He cried out his pent up anxiety on his newfound friend’s shoulder. Harry patiently waited for Louis to calm down, happy for the opportunity to hold him for as long as possible but never dreaming of forcing Louis to stay pressed against him as the drunk with no boundaries had done.

Slowly, Louis stopped his tears and succeeded in evening out his choppy, panting breath. He reluctantly pulled away from Harry’s warm, comforting embrace to wipe at his red, slightly swelled eyes. “I’m, er, sorry to have bothered you with that meltdown. Really, it was my all my doing anyhow, seeing as I agreed to dance with him…” Louis mumbled, feeling embarrassed and foolish for having broken down in front of someone he barely knew.

“No, no Louis don’t apologize, I know that must’ve been really scary, I would’ve felt pretty panicked too,” Harry truthfully reassured Louis, hesitantly wrapped his arm around Louis’ small body again and rubbed his arm comfortingly. Louis nearly purred at his touch and cuddled into Harry’s side where he seemed to fit so perfectly. “Even if you agreed to dance with him doesn’t give him the right to sexually assault you, I promise it wasn’t your fault. Don’t ever think that, okay?” Harry asked in a quiet, serious voice.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right…” Louis agreed and they stood huddled together for a while, enjoying each other’s company and staring at the nighttime traffic outside the bar. After a comfortable silence, Louis cleared his throat. “Um anyway, sorry that I’ve kind of ruined your night here…” Louis awkwardly said.

“Ah, no worries Louis, I wasn’t having too good a time anyway, seeing as I came here alone. It was fun to pretend to be someone who’s all tough and dangerous and beats up guys in bars.” Harry grinned down at Louis, who returned the smile with a little laugh. Harry hesitated, then took a deep breath and added in a quiet voice, “It was also nice to pretend someone like you could be my boyfriend.”

Louis froze, hardly daring to believe his ears. His abdomen tensed and his hands began to sweat as he tried to quickly find a coherent response. “What do you mean by ‘someone like me’?” Louis asked, almost scared that Harry’s answer would lead the conversation in an entirely different direction in which Louis was hoping it would go.

Meanwhile, Harry struggled to form the words he wanted to say so badly. “Just, erm, it was fun to pretend to date you, to have such a good-looking boyfriend to take to bars and stuff, I suppose?” Harry tried shyly, turning to look down at Louis who was already staring at him with wide, innocent eyes. Louis’ breath caught in his throat as Harry expanded on his previous statement, and before he knew it, he found himself standing on his tiptoes, craning his neck to press his lips to Harry’s, who kissed back after a second of hesitation from surprise.

Harry lifted his hand to hold the left side of Louis’ face, deepening the kiss in the gentlest way. They kissed for a while longer until Louis’ toes began to ache and he lowered himself back down on his heels. Harry’s hand left his face to find Louis’ right hand, and they naturally laced their fingers together, now leaning against the side of the building in which Harry had saved Louis from only half an hour ago, yet to Louis, it seemed like hours and hours ago.

After a few moments of more staring at the traffic in comfortable silence, Louis turned to look up at Harry and said in a quiet voice, “Now you don’t have to pretend.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fic, I'd love love love to know what you think of it, if you have a critical comment please tell me, I really want to improve. The title is from the song Time to Pretend by MGMT.
> 
> I'm [sunflowerstyles](http://sunflowerstyles.tumblr.com/) on tumblr :)


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